A retainer agreement for a fire safety company

The assignment: strengthening communication output in a small organisation

Cold Cut Systems manufactures the Cold Cut Cobra fire extinguishing system, which makes it possible to fight fires in a quicker and safer manner, with less environmental impact. Today, it is used by rescue services, industries, airports and marine operations in many countries.

Like many companies, Cold Cut Systems struggled with the challenge of balancing having great communication ambitions and a strong desire to put across its messages and stories with having limited time and resources to get everything done. Cold Cut Systems came to Appelberg because they wanted support with planning and producing its communications. The company also wanted access to more skills, such as design, animation and illustration.

Appelberg’s mission was to strengthen Cold Cut’s communications work, contribute external perspectives and act as a sounding board on a continuous basis.

The solution: a cummunications retainer that provides continuity and flexibility

The collaboration between Cold Cut and Appelberg is based on a retainer model. This means that the client, in exchange for a fixed number of hours each month, gets access to the agency's expertise on an ongoing basis.

The communications retainer model makes it easier to plan long-term and can also be easily scaled up or down as required. With this approach, the client is not locked into a specific production or type of expertise. If the need changes, the right expertise can be assigned, even with short lead times.

In practice, Appelberg functioned as an extension of Cold Cut System’s communication function, and together we developed a plan for which themes and activities would be prioritised.

Under the terms of the communications retainer plan, we produced content on an ongoing basis, including:

• Articles
• Social media posts
• Film
• Illustrations and animations
• Visual formats, such as carousels

We also contributed creative ideas about what the company could communicate, based on its target groups and focus areas. The frequent dialogue between us made the communication more structured and consistent.

The result: resource support, more communication ideas and more content

SThe collaboration with Appelberg gave Cold Cut Systems the opportunity to strengthen its communication without expanding its internal organisation. The support was also immediate, no need for the waiting and costs associated with additional recruitment.

In this way, the communications department received both rapid relief in its daily workflow and important strategic support.

The company also gained access to a broader range of expertise and was able to produce more types of content than it had before. The result was more continuous and more varied communications, and, perhaps most importantly, a trusted partner with whom to discuss communications ideas and priorities.

“The collaboration with Appelberg has been very valuable for us,” says Karin Skoog, Marketing Manager at Cold Cut Systems.

“Appelberg has relieved our everyday communications burden, contributed creative ideas and acted as a good sounding board for us, while maintaining high quality and meeting our delivery schedule.”